watup,
I know that it has been a while since my last column compared to how long it usually takes me, and I apologize for that. I have been a little busy with finals, which I'm still not finished with, so more delays are possible, but I'll do my best to keep my column on schedule.
Before I begin my column, I just recently learned of former U.S. President Ronald Reagan's death. He was 93 and had a long tough battle with Alzheimers. I just wanted to wish all the best to his family and hope people remember his long illustrious life. God Bless his soul, he's in a better place.
Now let's talk about wrestling.
No, the finals aren't making me commit suicide. The title of my post is referring to Smackdown. It's very true that Smackdown has faced problems through no fault of their own, causing their demise. I listed some of them in my first ever column, "A Smackdown Renaissance" but I'll do so again. If we go back to the draft at the beginning of the brand split, Smackdown got 2 great stars in The Rock and Angle 1st and 2nd pick. But then The Rock goes Hollywood, and somehow ends up on Raw anyways, Kurt Angle continues to have nagging neck problems, Hulk Hogan, I mean Mr. America, quits the WWE, Piper pissed off McMahon, Brock wants to play in the NFL, Benoit signs with Raw, Big Show has injury problems. Holy crap, thats a lot of bad luck. Now aside from all that, Smackdown was still able to make a resurrection. But, instead of lifting itself, it's grasping the gun in its hand and is squeezing the trigger. Let's look back at the ways Smackdown is committing suicide.
Let me take a shot here, I might get a couple of e-mails rippin me with this one but, Sean O'Haire was the epitome of a WWE Superstar. His physique was amazing. He was ripped with muscles on top of other muscles. They weren't crazy making him look thick like Big Poppa Pump, and his pecks didn't look like B-Cup Boobs, like Lesnar. He was strong, not many people can lift Rikishi onto their shoulders F-5/F-U style and slam him down on the mat. He has quick and agile, I remember his finisher back in WCW and early part of his WWE career, the Seanton Bomb. It was so pretty, 2nd only to Jeff Hardy's version, the Swanton Bomb. His mic skills are rather decent, like the promos he gave teasing his return, about “Making you think about it”, gave him kind of a dark feel. This guy had it all, but his career went down the tube as soon as stupid old Rowdy Roddy Piper came into the WWE, and for some strange reason the WWE stick Sean with him. When Piper F'd up, Sean was F'd over as well. And since then, the WWE released him. Out of all the wrestlers, they release him, what the hell. Imagine how good the feuds and matches would be. In the U.S. division at first, with Dupree, Cena and then gradually elevate him to feud with The Dudleys, RVD, Booker T, Guerrero. I would have loved to see him as a heavyweight contender in about a year, after Cena was pushed up. But they FIRED HIM! I want to cry =’(
Another way Smackdown is committing suicide... will someone give me a logical explanation as to why, why, why, WHY! the WWE does not like the Cruiser Weight Division. It is easily the most exciting division wrestling has to offer. Without a doubt heavyweights can put up great matches, as well as stinkers, but with the nature of a cruiserweight match, its exciting almost every time. Look at NWA-TNA, they have a couple of big names (most were established by NWA-TNA themselves such as AJ Styles) but their Ace in the Hole is their version of the cruiserweight division, the X-Division. Wrestlers such as Frankie Kazarian, Michael Shane, Sunjay Dutt, Chris Sabin, and Amazing Red perform 5 star matches week in and week out. NWA-TNA has even based whole 2 hour shows around the X-Division, showcasing the best of the best in the X Cups, and just recently the World X Cup. We get to see new wrestlers from Japan, Mexico, Canada, UK, and the US in these Cup Tournaments, and they give one of the best shows IÂ’ve ever seen every time. With innovative moves such as the Frogsplash Moonsault, where the wrestler does the froggie action while upside down flipping backwards. The flipping piledriver, standing shooting star presses from the mat, and crazy spins and flips and twists combined into one move off the ropes. But McMahon and the WWE won't let their Cruiserweights do that. I don't even think they can. I will stand up and say that the X-Division wrestlers are better than the WWE Cruiserweights. Rey Mysterio is elite, but we can't even see him in true cruiser weight action. The WWE wants to make wrestling safer and prevent wrestlers from doing high risk moves, and make it more mat based. Well, I can understand that it makes for a safer working environment, but it's putting the fans to sleep. We want to see crazy moves like the X-Division. I was extremely happy when I finally saw a wrestler with some innovation in Spanky, and of course, the WWE screws that up. Smackdown had the makings of a killer division with Rey Mysterio, Billy Kidman, Paul London, Spanky, Ultimo Dragon, and even mat based wrestlers could have thrown in a little variety like Noble, Chavo and Tajiri. But for some odd reason Tajiri goes to Raw. And Smackdown is wasting Ultimo Dragon, what the hell does it mean when a wrestler is not "WWE Style". Uh, a wrestler is to good? Because thats what Ultimo is. Their was a chance of a great feud with Rey and Ultimo, and it never happened. He's barely even used on Velocity. Smackdown has not only killed the cruiserweight division, they pissed on its grave by making Jaqueline and Chavo Classic champions. Jaqueline was a joke, and Chavo is to heavy, he can't "cruise" ha can barely even run. He adds comedy to a division that doesn't need to be funny to be effective. Smackdown should take some notes from the X-Division. I always wished that a trade would take place where Smackdown traded all of their divas, like Sable, Torrie, Nidia, possibly Jackie and Dawn Marie to Raw, in exchange for all of their cruiser weights, such as Spike (or Tajiri I guess, since they were basically switched), Stevie Richards, Lance Storm, The Hurricane, and possibly Maven. Think of how great it would be to see Hurricane and Lance Storm actually involved in a title picture. All of those wrestlers are being wasted, and would make for an amazing mix at the Cruiserweight division, at the same time, Raw would add more women to their scarce female roster, and make the Women Division even better.
Another point I'll bring up was the second Draft. The Draft Lottery. Sure, it was "random", but in no way did it help Smack down one bit. Sure, they got Renee Dupree, but they could have just as easily split up the World's Greatest Tag Team, still have Rico and Haas, and push Shelton to be the singles superstar he's becoming on Raw. Sure, Shelton's feuds with Evolution pushed him up to where he is now, but if handled right, he could have been at the same point on Smack down. And why in the world would Edge go to Raw instead of Smack down? This makes no sense at all, Edge would have been fine back on Smackdown. He'd be better off feuding with Cena than Orton, because now his feud with Orton is over in 2 weeks, where as it would have been at least a month long with Cena, and he would have gotten his title shot at a PPV. He then would have easily been made into a WWE Championship contender. So, finally Smack down gets a top heel in HHH right? Wrong, because he gets traded right back for the Dudleys and Booker T. Not a huge mistake because Booker T can be made into a star like he once was, but I see it as Barry Bond being traded away for Mike Piazza and change. Mike's injured and old, like Booker T, and having the Dudley's is retarded. I mean, c'mon, theyÂ’re a tag team, theres no such thing as a Tag Team Division anymore, and neither one can make it as a singles competitor. It's been attempted and failed. Reverend D-Von? Deacon Bautista? That lasted about 2 months. And Bubba tried as well, but ended up tagging with Spike anyways. They can't make it alone. So why trade away HHH, I don't know, I wouldn't have done it.
The Draft Lottery continues to give Smack down more ways of committing suicide by getting rid of Heyman and making Kurt Angle the GM. Why? As fellow columnist Adam Perez put it, in Mays Column of the Month (Congratulations to Adam) Heyman has a Beautiful Mind. He is the key to Smackdowns success. I'm glad he's finally back, hopefully starting some sort of stable, but he was perfect as the Smackdown GM. Kurt Angle is a freakin joke. He comes out being pushed in some stupid Jack in the Box contraption by his slave Luthor in his patriotic wheel chair. And he is so annoying, the things he says like, he can't have sex with his wife, it's the fans fault, blaming Torrie, and now, reporting Cena to the Board of Directors. Uh, Ok. Damn Kurt, if this is how your going to contribute to Smackdown, just go home until your ready to wrestle again.
So finally, a light at the end of the tunnel, a way Smackdown can be brought back to life. The return of the Deadman, the Undertaker. It is handled beautifully, that is, until he actually makes his return. He had an amazing entrance, but as soon as he took off the trench coat the whole world realized that he hasnÂ’t freakin changed. And then he and Kane put on a terrible performance. For some reason he is only on Smackdown like once a month, and is being wasted with Booker T, I already stated my grievances with that feud in past columns. Now, he is going to feud with the Dudley's, I'll give this one a chance, but I'm already starting to dislike it. I only have hope for it because of Paul Heyman. The Undertaker should truly don the attire of the Deadman, and should be on weekly, in good feuds. Hopefully this obvious feud with Mordecai doesn't end up being retarded, and Mordecai can be elevated into a big name as well.
The last thing I will comment on is John Bradshaw Layfield. I have admitted that I enjoyed his match at Judgement Day, but still don't want to see him challenge for the title. Not yet at least. I believe his push should have been gradual, and in the mean time people like Booker T should have gotten the title shot. JBL is good on the mic, I give him that, but he keeps shooting himself in the foot by dissing columnists and internet fans in general. I hated the racist angle he had with Guerrero, but this angle where he wants to beat Guerrero to hell is actually appealing to me. Although he is not my favorite wrestler, I do think he can help Smackdown. He may have caused a partial suicide at first, but Smackdown hasn't flatlined yet. I see JBL as a top heel now, and wouldn't mind seeing him on the upper tier of wrestlers on Smackdown. I would however mind it if he was champion. Maybe in the future sure, but not now. Unless he's a transitional champ, I don't see him as a good WWE Champion right now. But props to JBL and the WWE for grinding this one out, and continuing to do so.
So there you have it, Smack down is committing suicide, but as always, the electric shock paddles are always near by, and Smack down may have a resurrection once again, as I'm sure it will. Just not any time soon it seems.
I'm looking forward to Bad Blood , The Great American Bash, and Summerslam. I think the summer will be great for WWE PPV's. With, HBK/HHH, Orton/Benjamin, and Kane/Benoit already on the card I'm sure it will be a "Rocket Buster" like Tazz says. The Great American Bash however worries me, the Bullrope match I think can deliver, but I've seen the rumored card, and it scares me. Taker/Dudleys? Jindrak/Mysteriterio? I would prefer Mysterio/Dupree like on Smackdown this past Thursday. RVD/Dupree has a shot, and I'd love to see Cena/Booker T, but you know Smackdown. They always keep their semi-automatic near by to commit suicide.
As always, hit me up. I absolutely love the e-mails and IM's.
E-Mail: iiremixii@aol.com
IM: iiremixii
im out
peace
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